After a hiatus of nearly 7 years I travelled in an unreserved train compartment recently from Nellore to Vijayawada. Travel in a reserved air conditioned coach is a sanitised experience where order and protocol is enforced on an otherwise chaotic Indian railway carriage. Also boundaries of class because of the higher cost of the travel create barriers of access. A group of Bhavanis boarded the compartment along with me. Bhavanis are devotees of Goddess Kanakadurga who make a pilgrimage to Vijayawada to worship the Goddess during the auspicious season of Vijayadasami. After a good deal of hustle and bustle, the groups settled into their seats. Out of misplaced enthusiasm or lack of awareness, a group had boarded our train instead of the train in which they had reservation. After wrangling with the ticket examiner, they agree to deboard at the next station. Children are fighting for window seats and mothers are cajoling to quieten them. A pair of AIDSO ( All India Democratic Students organization) activists have boarded the train. They give a lecture about the ills of the education system and the careless and callous dismantling of time tested ideals of Education and learning. They go around with a box collecting donations. A stream of vendors is trying to display and sell their wares. A vendor challenges everyone to refuse payment if his samosas aren’t hot. He makes brisk business to deboard at the next station to catch a train coming in the opposite direction. A baby lovingly calls a peanut vendor “Aunty”. She is elated and hands over with a beaming smile a handful of nuts for free. A heady fragrance of Jasmines and lilies floods the train as a flower vendor brings in a basket of tropical flowers in full bloom. Everything is on sale except big gadgets probably. Hats, Glasses, Books, Magazines, Vegetables, Fruit, Novels, Pans, Cutlery, Needles and other household items, Cashew nut, Sweets, Milk, Tea, Lassi and so on.
Life inside a train compartment is a world all by itself. In the briefest of periods people make connections, recalling common friends, events or landmarks. They bid goodbyes and See yous without any promise or hope of meeting again. As the train moves ahead new people occupy the seats and conversations get stirred again. There is no dearth of topics which range from Politics, Living, Education, Weather, Occupation, Cinema, Cricket (India’s obsession) War or Personalities.
When I was a youth, a student or unemployed, I used to travel a lot in the unreserved compartments as all my journeys were not planned in advance. Later I started preferring reserved coaches or A/c cars befitting the upward mobility in life. Time has travelled a full circle and I was once again in the middle of a noisy train carriage. The train reached the Krishna Bridge. For me it was a familiar sight as I cross this bridge everyday towards my office. However most of the Bhavanis ran towards the windows throwing coins into the river. The train chugged into Vijayawada junction. I joined the milling crowds in the station to mix into the multitude.